King’s serves from 10 to 14 types of fish at any time, depending on seasonal availability.

About 1.5 million oysters are purchased by King’s from shellfish farms around the world every year.

King’s helps ensure high quality through its own distribution company, King’s Seafood Distribution, located in Santa Ana.

Claim to fame: Three generations of the King family have been serving Southern California with seafood since 1945. “What we love so much about seafood is the seasonality of the product that is available. Our menus are printed twice daily to allow us to change our seafood items as often as needed,” said Sam King, King’s president and CEO.

The restaurant has the familiarity and simple comforts of landmark fish houses found all across America, but with the adjoining King Crab Lounges adding a warm and energetic place to grab a drink, watch a game, and enjoy some oyster shooters and sushi.

The menu includes basic seafood entrées – fried shrimp, catfish, and tilapia – but also includes seasonal dishes concocted by the chain’s Chief Seafood Officer Matt Stein. Recent summer examples were the five varieties of Pacific salmon found on both sides of the Pacific: Chinook, chum, coho, pink and sockeye. Stein’s job is to job it is oversee training, sourcing, purchasing, preparation methods and practices. He takes questions about health, sustainability, preparation and more through the website.

“We unconditionally guarantee our product and service. We want to exceed all our guests’ expectations and ensure that everyone has a great experience. It’s what we enjoy doing,” said King. When some people think “fresh fish,” they think sushi, and King’s has a special sushi menu salmon, shrimp, albacore, tuna, yellowtail and eel plates, plus 15 cut rolls.

Did you know? King’s served over 45,000 pounds of live Maine lobster in 2011.